Lane’s Pulitzer Prize-winning alumna visits campus
Tonya Alanez, 2019 Pulitzer Prize winner visited Lane Community College to give a speech on her life. She delivered her award-winning story and foremost the ubiquitous power of journalism in the boardroom of Building Three on Nov. 7 to a group of about a dozen attendees.
In her speech, Alanez reminisced about humble beginnings on a reservation in Washington, moving to Eugene in 1999 to “be a hippie, have kids and live in the woods.” It wasn’t until enrolling at LCC did journalism enter her life; manifesting itself through a “journalist wanted” ad in The Torch. She decided to take a chance, applied for the position and walked out with her first assignment that same day.
In less than a year, Alanez was promoted to Editor-in-Chief. She had won her and her team 23 separate awards at the Associated Collegiate Press awards. She has carried the flame onward since; graduating with honors from the University of Oregon and most recently, procuring the 2019 Public Service Pulitzer Prize for her work at Florida’s Sun-Sentinel.
She was keen to remind her audience that when she graduated from the University of Oregon, she was 34-years-old and a mother of two. “It’s never too late, it’s never too late, it’s never too late.”
Alanez spoke in-depth about her prize-winning articles covering the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Throughout her presentation, Alanez would periodically pause and make clear the ways in which investigative journalism helped expose crucial elements of the story — details that were being withheld from the grieving families.
“From the outset, we were met with resistance and secrecy,” she said, and although she and her team faced redacted documents, quieted officials and even legal action from the school itself, they still managed to publish several intensive and eye-opening articles that illuminated details for the families kept in the dark.
When it comes to serving the public, her feelings are steadfast and erase the distinction between obligation and option. “It is our duty,” she stated proudly.
Alanez ended her speech with a token of guidance to those looking toward journalism for a career: to let oneself be emotionally involved in their stories and allow the natural empathy both the reader and the writer share connect the two. “A goal of mine is to always remember the human condition,” Alanez said, meeting the eyes of every audience member, “to always mind the emotion.”
